High Sierra Topix

Do you carry your car keys with you on the trail, or you do hide them at the car? There is no point to carrying extra weight, and car keys certainly fall into that category. I leave all of my keys in the car EXCEPT the car key itself. That goes in my pack.

Or do you really practice ultra-light backpacking, and leave the car key artfully hidden somewhere so that you don’t have to tote the extra weight? (And no, please don’t tell me or anyone else WHERE you hide those keys…)

Of course, true ultra-lighters will either take public transportation to the trailhead…or buy a car with keyless entry!

spare car key hooked up on the clip in my pack. It gives my others in the group access if I don't come out. and they all know it's place. also tell them it's ok to smash a window for the one secretly stowed.

"that heavy car key" weighs 0.6 oz. I carry my car key and make up for its horribly heavy weight by deleting four peanuts or carrying one sip less water.

Wandering Daisy wrote:"that heavy car key" weighs 0.6 oz. I carry my car key and make up for its horribly heavy weight by deleting four peanuts or carrying one sip less water.

Lmao. I hope youre not deleting those peanuts by eating them cuz ur still carrying that dreadful 0.6 oz if u do ;-)

I do similar to rlown except i keep it in my pocket and make sure others know its on me if i drove them to the TH. The rest of the keys are hidden inside the car.

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balzaccom wrote:Do you carry your car keys with you on the trail, or you do hide them at the car? There is no point to carrying extra weight, and car keys certainly fall into that category. I leave all of my keys in the car EXCEPT the car key itself. That goes in my pack.

Or do you really practice ultra-light backpacking, and leave the car key artfully hidden somewhere so that you don’t have to tote the extra weight? (And no, please don’t tell me or anyone else WHERE you hide those keys…)

Of course, true ultra-lighters will either take public transportation to the trailhead…or buy a car with keyless entry!

What do you have on your keychain, a bowling ball?

Yes, I take my car key with me. (Leave the house keys, though.) I put it in a zippered pocket that absolutely does not get opened under any circumstances between trailhead and trailhead.

There are 2 things that never leave me, no matter what activity I am doing. My wallet, and my keys.

INteresting that you should mention your wallet.

I actually only take about 1/3 f the stuff that's usually in my wallet: driver's license, credit card, Kaiser card and AAA. The rest of the wallet stays at home when I backpack

WD's post gave me a good laugh. I think you have to be borderline OCD about cutting weight to not carry your car key with you. Mine goes on the key clip on the zippered pocket of my camera bag. I used to put it on a key clip in my pack. One afternoon in Palisade Basin while sitting, snacking, writing, and gazing at the view a chipmunk climbed in my pack and tried to pull them off the clip. "What's that noise in my pack?" I said to myself and went over to investigate. The chipmunk scampered out of the pack and ran away, but it was obvious what he was going after. That's when I started putting them on the clip in the camera bag.

Actually, the hyperbole about the weight of the keys was tongue in cheek...but not the question itself. And it's not so much the weight as the security issue. Since I always backpack with my wife, we actually take two keys...even though that added weight is completely overkill...:^)

We do not want to have to walk home from the trailhead.

But I know there is are backpackers who always hide their keys near the car...just wondering how prevalent that practice is.

And on a related note---we have never seen a car that's been damaged at a trailhead....just wondering how many people on this board have had that problem, or seen that happen.

Maybe we're lucky. Maybe the places we backpack are safer?

I went out with a group once and one of the guys did just that - left his keys at home because they were too heavy. Funny thing was he at the largest backpack I've ever seen and was the slowest hiker in the group as a result. His wife told me they had to call a locksmith when they got home (his son drove) to get in. At midnight - they finally got to the trailhead around 10.....


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